


In a Heartbeat

by Hedgi



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Post-HYDRA Reveal, S.H.I.E.L.D Academy, siege, the incentives program, um all original characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-05-09
Packaged: 2018-01-20 20:32:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1524593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hedgi/pseuds/Hedgi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Hydra stopped hiding, they struck out at all the SHIELD bases. all of them. Including the Academy where a few hundred young adults, most without any real combat training, were studying. On a warm spring afternoon, their world shattered. </p><p>basically, episode 17 of AoS  emotionally destroyed me and I have feels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Minute is Passing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Stopandsmellthedata](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Stopandsmellthedata).



 

“Hey, Nadia,” someone tapped her on the shoulder, making Nadia jump at least a foot (or an inch, something like that) in the air. The minute-headed screwdriver in her hand clattered.

            “Yeah?” she spun, ready to give whoever had interrupted her a piece of her mind, but stopped. Sam Cawdor, her first friend at the Academy, still had his hand outstretched. She relaxed.

            “I was just wondering what your plans are for tomorrow. I mean, since it’s, you know, Saturday, and it’s Spring and all.”

            Nadia frowned. “I’ve got to work on Venice here.” She patted her table, covered in scraps of metal, tools, and Venice in all its half-finished glory, a blown glass-looking blob on a metal pedestal with wires sticking out of a panel.

            Sam nodded, smiling wryly. He ran a hand through short brown hair. “I asked because have been having serious issues with the Dolphin. I was hoping you could help me test it in the lake. I mean, it’s warm out, the birds are all singing, the sun _should_ be shining… It’s criminal, staying inside every day. What do you say? I’ll buy you an ice cream.”

            Nadia laughed. “Ooh, bribery. I like the way you think. Make you a deal. Two ice creams, AND you help _me_ with Venice now. Pass me that screwdriver?”

            “You got it, Sweetheart,” he said, bowing as he handed her the tool. Nadia blushed, rolling her eyes.

            A bell rang, and Agent Wren glanced up from looking over project schematics on her computer. “That’s class. I expect you all to test your April projects over the weekend, and have a one page write-up of what’s wrong with it on my desk Monday morning. If you want to work through lunch, leave now and come back with a coffee or tea or something with calories- one for you, one for me.”

            There was a mad scrambling as students tucked tools and scraps of metal, plastic, and who-knew-what into lockers. Nadia left her tools where they were; Venice needed a lot more work. She escaped the classroom building and breathed in fresh air. Sam was right. It was warm out, and the birds were singing. She bought herself a donut, and a large coffee for Agent Wren. She returned to the classroom, along with Sam and a few others. She handed the petite professor the coffee, and the woman took a sip.

            “Hazelnut. I approve. Bonus point for you, Lacon.”

 The room settled into comfortable near-silence. Classical music was barely audible from Lowell Bowen’s headphones, birds sang in the trees outside, Adria Lyns cursed under her breath, smacking the table beside her.

Nadia stepped back, and pressed a finger to the globe. Images flickered on the surface, then the whole thing clouded over, singed from the inside and half-full of smoke. Nadia bit her lip, trying not to cry. She still had two weeks to fix and tweak and make it work, but she’d been so sure! She detached the sphere and turned on a small fan, then took up her screwdriver. Sam watched her, making notes on his souped-up tablet and writing down notes she muttered, even if they were “throw the whole thing in the lake and move to Ireland.”

“Wish we had a holo-desk in here,” he muttered, tapping the screen with his stylus. Suddenly the lights flickered, and the whole room shook. Nadia dived to protect Venice’s glass orb, while Agent Wren swore vividly as her coffees spilled.

“What on earth?” She picked up the desk side phone, frowned, and checked her S.H.I.E.L.D. issue cell-phone. Nadia clutched her project, staring at her teacher. Agent Wren looked up, catching everyone’s eyes. “Cawdor, close the windows and close the blinds. Lacon, bolt the door after me. Don’t let anyone in without the password I gave you at the start of the semester. I’m going to see what’s what. If the ceiling starts to fall, get out, otherwise stay put.” She tucked a gun into her waistband and left. There was quiet chaos as Sam and Nadia did as directed. Adria and her boyfriend Clark began dragging desks into the back, forming a barricade to hide behind—just in case. Nadia abandoned her post and ducked behind the desks, grabbing at Sam’s hand.

“What’s going on?” she whispered, half to herself. “That was an explosion, a—a bomb? And, oh, oh God.” Gunfire. Lots of Gunfire, from outside, from the hall. The birds went silent.

“Is the building on fire?” Sam whispered, fear in his eyes. Nadia smelled smoke.

“It’s not a, a training exercise? Is it? For the field students?” Clark suggested. “Or, to, to see how we’ll do in a situation? Like, you know, ‘you’re under siege, use what you have to…I dunno. I dunno.”

Sam still held Nadia’s hand, their grip slick with fear-sweat, but Nadia didn’t pull away. “I’m sure it’s… nothing to worry about. This is S.H.I.E.L.D, all our teachers are armed and trained, and then there’s the field students, plus…if it’s real, S.H.I.E.L.D needs us. So they’ll come. In forces. We’re their future. So we just have to hang on,” he said. Nadia nodded, but she felt weak and empty and more afraid than she’d ever been. Hearing a rattle, she realized she was shaking so hard that the desk in front of her was vibrating.

Another explosion, this one so close outside that one of the windows behind the blinds shattered. Adria leant into Clark’s arms, half-cursing, half-crying. He kissed her temple and held her tightly.

In the hall, someone screamed. Nadia felt her blood turn to ice—not literally, though that was what Lowell was working on. Tears pricked at her eyes. _This isn’t a drill,_ she thought. _Oh God. It’s all real._

Someone pounded on the door. “Agent Wren, open up,” came a familiar voice.

“It’s Agent Scott,” Lowell hissed, starting to stand.

Clark grabbed the other boy and pulled him down. “It might be a trap. Wait for the passcode.”

“Agent Wren, open the damn door. We’re under attack. Anidori’s toes, for God’s sake.”

That was the password. Nadia looked to Clark, the oldest and top student in the class. He nodded and Nadia went to the door. She pushed aside the eye cheat, and saw Agent Scott, the head of the Field students, and in charge of teaching the tech students to defend themselves. Two others were with him, a man and woman Nadia knew were other teachers. Her heartbeat, hummingbird fast, slowed a little. She drew back the bars on the door.

“Is Agent Wren here?” asked the combat teacher. Nadia shook her head, mute. One of the other agents, Agent Bryne, Nadia remembered, relocked the door. “How many of you are in here?”

“Five,” sam said, standing up. The group of students gathered around the adults.

“Please, what’s going on? Who’s attacking us?” Lowell asked, his pale face ashen.

“Hydra,” Agent Bryne said, her eyes locked on Agent Scott.

 _Hydra?_ Nadia thought, hazily. _But, but we beat them. They were destroyed. Grandad always said so—how—can they—how—what—?_

Her grandfather had told her and her brothers about Hydra, the creeptastic-nazi terrorist group that had killed so many in the War. They had captured him and his friends, tortured them. He’d become one of the first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, hunting Hydra down, rooting them out. Terror flooded through her, and she forced herself to breathe. _The agents will protect us. They’re S.H.I.E.L.D.  We’re S.H.I.E.L.D._

“Hydra? But they all died, it was destroyed years ago.” Adria said, her hand in a death grip around Clark’s. “We learned about it in history, first semester.”

“Not quite,” Agent Scott said, bringing his gun up. “We’re harder to kill than S.H.I.E.L.D thought.

“We?” Lowell backed up until he hit the desks. “What?”

Nadia felt like she’d been hit with a load of bricks.

“And here I thought you were smart kids. ‘Triple advanced robotics and technical devices.’ Lousy name, but still.” Agent Scott shook his head, pointing the gun at Lowell. The other two agents—x-agents—raised their sidearms as well. Nadia’s heart dropped into her stomach.

 _We’re dead. They’re going to kill us._ She looked for Sam, a few feet away.

“You?” Clark sputtered, pushing Adria behind him. “But you’re S.H.I.E.L.D!”

“No, actually. Never was,” Scott grinned wolfishly. “Now, Clark Geddes. Top of your class. You designed some great stuff, son.” Clark bristled. “There’s a place for you—for all of you? We’ve kept our eye on this class. The Icarus II. Pisa. Phantasma Via…you’ve all done great work. We could use that.” Don’t look so scared, Lacon. This doesn’t have to end badly. You have a great life ahead of you. Join us, all the funding, materials, time you need to build whatever you want, no limits, no restrictions, so long as it’s useful to us. What do you say, kids?”

Nadia’s heart pounded in her chest, her ears, her stomach. Silence stretched, punctuated by gunfire from outside.

“We won’t wait forever,” the third agent said, shifting her gun to point it at Sam, edging toward a window.

Lowell acted first, seizing and firing his prototype gun. He was no marksman, and the dart hit the wall beside Bryne. A moment later, she fired. Lowell crumpled, blood staining the white linoleum. Someone screamed, high and terrified, and Nadia realized it was her own voice.

“Shut up,” Scott said, cold. “What a waste. Geddes, what about you? Ready to stretch your wings?”

“Go to hell,” Clark said. Nadia turned her head away, not wanting to look. A shot rang out, crashing in her ears, and Adria cried out, “Clark!” and then a moment later “Oh, thank God.” Nadia turned, and sagged with relief and nausea. Clark lay on the ground, head in Adria’s lap. Blood spilled through the fingers pressed to his left knee. He was crying, his lip bleeding from biting it.

“Tough, Geddes. You’re with us, like it or not. You too, girlfriend.” Bryne glared at Scott, who shrugged. “She’s smart, and hostages can be handy. Two are better than one and the boss wants Geddes.”

Nadia closed her eyes. Would they do the same to her? Keep her, and use her friends as hostages? They’d mentioned one of her projects, and the thought made her ill. She forced herself to look around the room. There had to be a way out, help had to come.

“Lacon,” Bryne said, her gun now pointed at her. “Your turn. What’ll it be? You wanna join your friend Bowen, or us?”

Nadia wished she could hold Sam’s hand. She was trembling, head to toe, tears dripping off her nose. _You are an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Almost. You are Charles Anderson’s granddaughter._

“Well?” Scott said. “The minute is passing.”

            Nadia knew her answer. She wished she had a defiant one liner that would ring in their ears for the rest of time, something fiery and clever, but the only thought in her mind was— _no. no. no._ She lifted her head, took a breath. Her heart beat so hard that it hurt. She tried to swallow the rock in her throat, failed.

Scott cocked his gun, and Nadia said, her voice tiny and quavering, “No.”

 _Crack, light, pain._ Someone screamed. Someone said her name. Black spots filled her vision, then turned silver.

 

She thought she heard songbirds.


	2. At Least Your Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm still emotionally compromised. This takes place at the same time as chapter one.

          A loud bell rand, echoing across the open campus. James grinned, wiping his sweaty face. _Lunch. Finally._ The refectory at S.H.I.E.L.D was crowded at first, but emptied out quickly as students took their hamburgers and pasta salads and mini apple pies outside to enjoy the sunshine, or back to their workrooms to get some extra studying or work done on projects.

          James took a seat at a round table in the corner, his back to the wall, and scanned the rush of hungry students. There was the usual hustle and bustle as they grabbed for silverware, or jostled a friend-slash-rival’s tray so orange soda spilled everywhere, or raced to get a window table.

          “Lucy!” he called when he spotted a chubby, dark-haired girl. He waved, and she waved back, fighting her way through a knot of Robo-tech students making their way back to a classroom loaded down with pastries and coffees. Finally, she sat across from him, dumping her brown-bag lunch on the table with a clatter.

          “Hey, bro. How was training?” she asked, poking at the contents of a Tupperware container, then shoveling a bite of potato dumplings in a creamy yellow sauce into her mouth.

          “Ok. My back’s going to be one solid bruise, but…” He unwrapped his burger and smothered it in mustard. “Yours?”

          “Well, I aced my History of S.H.I.E.L.D. test. I think. I hope. Probably. And Chem is going really well. We had a lab this morning, and it was really hard, but I got it in the end. It was exciting. I’m pretty sure Izzy had a near-death-experience. Or three. Stuff blew up a little. Or a lot. See, when you add…” She chattered on, and James nodded dutifully, not understanding most of the convoluted explanation. Still, he wouldn’t have traded this for anything. He had been glad when his little sister was accepted into the Biochem program at The Academy—it meant he could see her often, and talk to her without worrying that she’d forgotten to charge her phone, or that it had come to misfortune at the hands of a lab accident. It _also_ meant that he could keep tabs on her, which was nice. ( He was even more glad that she was not going into Field agent training. Biochem was safer. Not as safe as, say, majoring in Irish Mythology at some liberal arts college, but he’d take what he could get.)

          Lucy blushed. “Sorry, I know, I know. Boring. It’s just—it’s so fun for me. Being here, getting to learn all this cool stuff and do important work. _Gosh_ I love this place.”

          James shook his head, still smiling. Lucy was the only person over the age of five that he knew still used the word ‘gosh.’

          “So how was training, besides the bruises?” Lucy asked, waving her fork.

“Fine. We started training with new types of tranqs.”

Lucy rolled her eyes at him. “I see you’ve continued training in “withholding information from people with lesser clearance,”” she teased. “Come on. How was it? Did you talk to Lina?”

James blushed. “We spoke.”

Lucy grinned. “About whaaaaat?” she drew out the last word.

“Hey, I don’t pester you about your love life,” James snapped, instantly regretting his choice of words.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you don’t? And here I seem to recall you ran a _background check_ on Walker from Robotech when he asked me out last month. Sorry, my bad.”

“Of course I did, that’s about _safety.”_

“He’s S.H.I.E.L.D., same as you or me. Well, nearly. Just by being here he’s had, like, seven bazillion background checks,” Lucy said. “And _this_ is about _you._ You like her. Everyone can tell. And if you get to be the stereotypical over-protective big brother, then _I_ get to be the stereotypical nosy little sister who thinks you should just ask her our already.” She laughed, but it was her “yes I’m laughing but you listen up right now because I mean every one of these silly things” laugh. James knew it all too well.

“She did say she needs a new sparring partner.” James mused.

“Oh, gee, now that’s romantic. Beat the stuffing out of each other, and fall in love over a box of handwraps.” Lucy snorted. “I am so glad I’m in biochem. I’d be a crap agent.” She rubbed her nose.

James shrugged, not wanting to say she was right—because with training, she probably could be good. Maybe.

“Oh, you know it’s true. I’d be dead five minutes into my first mission. I’m a crap liar and I’m too emotional.”

“It’s not a bad thing,” he offered.

“I know it’s not. But I’m sticking with biochem. You go woo Lina with your mad skills. Break a punching bag in front of her or something. You can do that, right?”

James ignored the question.

“Oh lighten up.” Lucy put her Tupperware away. “I should go, Agent Waterstone says we’ll be working with Antitoxins today, and I want to make sure I get a front row lab table. Antitoxins are super fun. It’s like Potions, only without the dragon’s heartstrings and Agent Waterstone hasn’t threatened any of us.”

James nodded, then tensed. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he shifted his weight, unsure of why. A second, a heartbeat, later, the room shook as something outside and close by exploded. The florescent lights swung wildly from the ceiling fixtures as plates crashed to the ground. Lucy shrieked, covering her head and ducking under the table.

“Earthquake!”

“Bomb!”

“Someone call the cops!”

“We are the cops!”

 

James reached for his sister with one hand, the other going to his hip for a weapon he didn’t carry outside of the training courses. Lucy was shaking, looking out the window. “Oh…Oh my gosh.” James looked—the ground was torn, shrubs were uprooted, a tree was on fire, and so was the east wing of the Robotech building.

“Get away from the windows, everyone, now,” James said, urgently. Others had the same idea, crowding into corners and under tables. A girl to his right bowed her head and folded her arms, rocking back and forth on her heels. Two boys from his unarmed combat class began shoving tables and chairs in front of the doors, adding whatever they could find to the barricade.

 

Lucy pressed up against the wall beside James, quivering, as silence filled the refectory. Beyond the sound of ragged breathing, James heard shouting, and a pattering, a stuttering, like hail on a metal roof. Gunfire, he knew that sound as well has he knew his own furiously pounding heartbeat. Slowly, he moved to stand between Lucy and the doors. For once in her life, she didn’t complain.

 

The gunfire got closer, and someone pounded on the door, screaming to be let in. James flinched as the girl’s cries went silent with another volley of gunshots. The door knobs, beyond the barricade, rattled, then went still. James knew what was coming.

“Duck,” he yelled, as others ordered their friends to do the same. The doors exploded, scattering fragments and furniture across the wide room. Some screamed, others only whimpered in fear or tried to be as brave as they could, silent in shock and terror. Lucy seized her brother’s hand, and James squeezed hers, his eyes locked on one of the gun wielding attackers. He stepped forward, one arm trailing behind him to hold tight to Lucy.

          “Alex? Alex, what the crap? What…what is this?” He demanded. His roommate, his _friend_ stared back at him, a small smile on his face, a predator’s grin. He didn’t say anything.

A girl closer to the doors drew a gun—she was nearly an agent, then, if she had her gun on her—and aimed it at the leader. “Who are you and what the hell do you want?” she demanded, her voice steady. “Identify yourselves, now.”

“Any of you kids ever hear of Hydra?” the man drawled, scanning the room, his eyes lingering on those who still wore a freshman’s lanyard. There were scattered nods, and a few barely audible squeaks.

James shook his head, not daring to move closer and let go of Lucy’s hand. “Alex, what? Hydra? Why?”

Alex looked to his boss, then shrugged. “They pay well, dude. They appreciate me—us. We’re the future, and they know it. They respect it.”

“Well said, Tirrgan,” a woman said, her voice high and hard. “Alright, kiddos. Listen up. We’re in charge here, so unless you want to die right now, you do what we say. Newbies, over there,” she gestured with her gun to an empty patch of wall.

James squeezed Lucy’s hand, not letting go. _When they separate you out, one group will die._ He remembered from training. _Either they…oh, God, either they want to keep the new students alive because they aren’t as loyal, or… or they don’t because why waste time training new people? God, no._

The boss-man glared at the two of them. “You, newbie, in the blue. Move, before I shoot you both. You want boyfriend’s blood on your hands?” James stepped back, trying to block her from sight, but Lucy let go of his hand and raised hers, stepping over debris to join her year mates. She was not crying, which shattered James’s heart. Lucy was pure emotion, quick to cry. When she didn’t, that was when it was too serious for tears. He could see her shaking. _No, me, not her. Please not Lucy._

There were so many gunmen-and-women. James’s brain shouted at him to do something, anything, but training took over. Don’t be a hero unless you have something to gain. With only a dozen unarmed, mostly untrained students, there was no way to fight. The girl at the door brandished her gun.

“I will drop you,” she said, but her face was blotchy and she was shaking now. “S.H.I.E.L.D. agents will be here any second, and you will all die. Put down your weapons.”

The men and women laughed.

“Cute,” one of the women said, before turning and putting a bullet into the girl’s chest. She dropped, and in the silence, James could hear gurgling as she bled out. His stomach churned.

“Now, as Agent Tirrgan was saying, Hydra is recruiting. I’d hate to have to shoot you all,” boss man said, addressing the older half of the room. “But don’t test me. We will, if we must. You have a great opportunity here, a gold ticket. Join the winning team. S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone, your teachers are dead—or with us. No one is coming to save you, but you lucky ones, you can save yourselves. All you have to do is work for us.” He grinned, his teeth too-white.

The two boys from James’s class shook their heads violently. “Go to hell,” one of them said, his face a mask of fury.

“See you there,” a Hydra agent said with a smirk, firing twice. “Now, stupidity gets you that. Shame,” he said, eyeing the boys, their eyes glassy, their hands locked around each other’s.

A few of the students were crying now, softly. The praying girl tilted her face up to the ceiling, tears streaking her face. Lucy stood, resolute, her arm around a smaller girl whose body was wracking with sobs. James felt tears in his own eyes, and blinked them back. _Think think think think._ The word pulsed like a heartbeat.

And an answer came. He cringed away from it, revolted by it.

“Oh, come on. No takers? Really? None of you wants to keep breathing?” a second woman said, raising one perfect eyebrow.

“James,” Alex said. “Come on. You have a death wish? Join us.”

It seemed like every eye in the world was on him, as James took a breath, and Nodded.

“If you swear not to hurt my sister. If you take us both. Anything you want. I’ll do it. But you don’t kill Lucy.”

“What? James, no, you can’t, Mom wouldn’t have—“

“Mom told me to protect you and that’s what I’m doing.” James shot back, stepping forward, holding out his hand. “Do we have a deal?”

There was a flurry of nods from the attackers. One of the gunmen grabbed Lucy, pulling her away from the others and started dragging her from the room.

“Your sister will be fine. You’ll see her after initiation. There’s a chopper outside waiting to take you and anyone else with a brain to your new home. Try anything at all and you’re both worm food,” the head woman snapped, her gun still aimed at James’s chest. He swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth.

“James, don’t you dare do this, James I’ll never speak to you again, I’d rather die, do you hear me? Do you hear me? Please, James, please, _please_.” Lucy screamed, clinging to the busted door frame. James turned his head away. He nodded to the woman, who smiled, coldly. “See now, that wasn’t so hard. Come here, James.” James dropped his hand, and moved to stand by Alex. Everyone glared at him, ripping him to shreds with their eyes, but James couldn’t care. His sister was safe. That was all that mattered.

_I’m sorry, Lucy, but I had to. I had to save you, I couldn't let them kill you, not if I could stop it._

He did not want to think about the future, except that at least Lucy's blood would not be on his hands.


End file.
